Welcome

Musings, rants and raves on the world of shopping carts and e-commerce, fortified with related business, legal and economic news, as well as announcements about my work on Zen Cart. Brought to you by That Software Guy.

Month: November 2008

Facebook Pages, unlike Facebook Profiles, allow you to message all the people who are connected to you at once. This is done via an “Send an Update to Fans” link on your Facebook Page. In the past, these updates were somewhat obscure; you really had to look to see if you had any. A recent change to Facebook has increased the visibility of these updates. Now, any fan of your page will see a notification of your update at the top right hand side of their profile:

When someone follows the “1 new update” link, they will be taken to the “Updates” section of their Inbox, and your message will appear.

As with all communication, use this in moderation and be sure to add value by offering coupons, advice, tips and so forth – not just straight selling pitches and marketing. The last thing you want is for your fans to press the “Opt Out” link (or worse, the “Report Spam” link).

I have always been a huge fan of the Hipster PDA. But I’ve realized for a while that having crinkled, dog-eared pieces of paper in my pocket is just not polished enough. So I had Coral Springer from Moonshine Leather in Jerome, Arizona re-imagine a pocket organizing system for me, and here’s what she came up with:

It has a 3″x5″ spiral notebook on the right hand side, with pockets on the left hand side for loose notes and business cards. It was hand made of the softest leather you have ever felt. It is beyond awesome. Thank you, Coral!

If you’re ready to take a step up from loose notepad paper, index cards and binder clips, talk to the folks at Moonshine Leather. My organizer was $50 including shipping and worth every penny.

I go to Starbucks twice a day, so the idea of a rewards program is very attractive. Now Starbucks already has a “Rewards card,” so I assumed their new “Gold card” was just a higher level of the same thing. Not really.

If you’re enjoying Starbucks Card Rewards benefits, such as free syrups, milk options and refills on drip coffee, then we hope you continue to do so. But if you’re looking for daily savings on everything from espresso beverages to espresso machines, you should check out Starbucks Gold. (Please note that Starbucks Card Rewards discounts cannot be combined with Starbucks Gold discounts.)

Umm… so they’re separate? Can’t be combined? I have to carry two cards around? And the discounts aren’t stacked?

This was needlessly confusing, Starbucks. That Software Guy’s recommendations:

Your rewards program can have multiple tiers, but should be physically integrated with your existing payment platforms: the Duetto (a credit card) and the Starbucks card (a stored value card). A sticker – or better yet, electronic encoding – could easily be used to identify premium membership.

You should encourage card registration and promote your biggest spenders automatically (with no fee) to the premium tier of rewards. This is pennies on the dollar for your biggest fans.

The words “… don’t be surprised if your barista doesn’t know about it yet” indicate a major planning failure. If your staff hasn’t been trained yet, delay the rollout. The last thing you want to do is have your staff arguing with your best customers, for heaven’s sakes!